One Morning
by VCAyuki
Summary: It wasn't the typical, average morning.


"_Nanami!" _A stern, muffled voice rings from out in the hallway. "_You are at least ten minutes late again from your usual waking time!"_

Said girl shifts uncomfortably within her futon's sheets, legs splayed this way and that until the position became relaxing. Once there, a blissful sigh escapes her lips.

"Five more minutes, mama…." She groans, snuggling deep into her pillow.

Not even a second later and the door slides open, revealing an annoyed young man with pointed ears stiff upon his head, and his long, sleek tail flicking in the air menacingly from behind his back.

"Did you just call me _your mother?_" He scowls with the most indignant of expressions.

The girl, completely unaware of his presence, unconsciously shifts again, this time having her back to the even more offended fox.

"_Nanami, _I'm beginning to—"

"No…" She groans, pawing half-heartedly at the air. His brow twitches. "No…mama, please…" She slurs.

Sputtering under his breath, he starts to formulate another warning, but is interrupted when the covers were suddenly thrown aside from the futon, and her legs swinging out. He watches, dumbfounded, as she rises to her feet like a normal person waking up in the morning, and merely stands there, not making any attempt to move.

Utterly un-amused, he comes over to her side of the bed and clears his throat, slipping into an elegant stance that most truly radiates authority. Truly this girl has never failed to corrupt him for even the smallest of moments.

"Now that you're awake and have come to your senses, let me help you get dressed."

There was no reply.

"Nanami." He says patiently.

She turns to face him and lifts her head, revealing not her groggy, bright eyes, but completely closed ones.

He gawks momentarily, but quickly recovers to roll his eyes. "Not again." He mutters with a hand cupping the side of his face, as if saying the words aloud would make the situation go away. A loud, rambunctious Nanami, he could reprimand and handle easily. But a sleep-walking, vulnerable Nanami? He had to tread upon ice and think about his actions twice as much whenever this side of her arose.

The variety of activities he could perform right now for the shrine rather than this.

"Mama…I want to sleep…" she whimpers with a fixed, serene profile, and his ears shoot upward. It was normal for her to dream of her mother, but the pure tone of desperation in that one word surprises him. He sighs.

Here goes the routine.

"You have to wake up for school, Nanami." He gently reminds her, playing along as always.

"But…" Her lips start to tremble. She takes a step forward. "I don't…I don't want to."

He rumbles softly, "You have to."

"I want to stay here. With you." She closes the distance between them and wraps her arms around the shocked fox's stomach, placing her head on his torso. "Don't leave me…"

This was new.

The raw urgency in words, the sudden shortened proximity…He blinks down at the scenario, unsure of what exactly to say. She was supposed to have woken up by now, or even went back to the futon to doze once more, erasing her sleep-walking.

Slowly, he wraps an arm around her to bring her closer, and strokes the back of her head gingerly as if it were the most fragile object.

He wasn't going to complain. In fact, this was good for her mental health. He brings his head down, being made sure that she would hear him. "I will always be with you, Nanami…wherever you happen to go." And slowly—carefully, he lifts her up, their arms still encircled around one another, and brings her to sit on the futon's edge.

"Go ahead, sleep for a few more minutes' time," he coaxes her, and runs a hand down her hair. However, she was still nuzzled up to his chest and refusing to release her grip on him.

"Will you still…be there when I…. wake up?" She asks, her voice sounding more faint and vague in tone.

He looks down on her, an indescribable emotion in his eyes. She was _this _insecure with her mother when she was little.

"…Of course," he says rather absentmindedly. Then gradually, her arms around him loosens and a sweet, mystifying smile graces her lips as she brings her legs up to lay down. He silently pulls the cover over her and over the course of a few seconds of his vigilant post, she breathes peacefully, a sign of resting.

Any minute now she'll wake, and true to his promise, he will stay there, no matter how late they were for the god-forsaken school-bus. Because believe it or not, he was the closest thing to a guardian she will ever have.

The choice to stay by her side is not only an obligation, but a will.


End file.
